Vendor Writing

Changes

BY VICKY B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

A move to Nashville, a tornado, COVID-19, and hip surgery have all played a role in me getting out there to sell The Contributor. It’s scary to get back out while still being in a wheelchair from hip surgery. I’ve had to change how I sell the paper also.

I was hoping to at least be on my walker by now but, I’ve had a really slow recovery. Working on endurance on my own has been slow. To walk from the bus terminal to a place downtown to sell the paper has been a difficult task. It’s a work in progress — and I mean work. Needing to find a place where people walk up to you to buy a paper, leaves downtown as the only possible place for me to sell the paper. I’d love nothing more than to return to Hermitage where I had sold the paper for over six years, however this isn’t in the cards right now. Standing, smiling and waving at cars that drive by isn’t as easy as it once was.

I do know that change is good. Going from homeless to affordable housing has been a dream come true. While scary at times, changes have always helped me to grow.

During this Covid-19 pandemic, will I contract this deadly disease while trying to sell the paper? So many things to consider before going out. Employees and residents who have tested positive have left me in fear of getting this deadly disease. I’ve been so thankful that The Contributor has changed with the times by offering digital copies and subscriptions. As well as offering aid to vendors in dire need and helping us through this very scary time.

Wearing masks and social distancing has been the protocol by many health officials as well as our mayor, but those who don’t follow this put me and many others at risk. Is it worth this risk to sell papers through this or do I wait for a vaccine? These are questions that I ask myself daily. With underlying health conditions such as diabetes, I’ve had to choose to stay at home and have grocery delivered to my home.

Those out there still selling are my heroes, those that I look up to and even learn from. I’m not sure when I’ll be out again. I’m so thankful for those who purchase the digital copies and subscriptions that have kept me and many other vendors afloat during these very changing times.

Happy to sell the paper for nine years

BY JAMIE W., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

Well, as of Aug. 3, I will have beeen selling the paper nine years. I have my good days and bad days. I love selling the paper because I get to talk and communicate with all kinds of people. I love selling the paper and I love all of my customers. I’m grateful and blessed to have such great customers and if I’m still alive and live to be 90 and if the paper is still around and as long as I’m able, I will still be selling the paper.

What can I say? I love doing this Monday through Friday. I get up at 3:30 a.m. and I’m usually done by

noon or 1 p.m. On the weekends I get up at 4 a.m. and am done around noon or 1 p.m. This job is a blessing and I love all my customers. My husband encourages me to get out there and I do. I have seen so much out there in all of my nine years of doing this and I love every minute of it. I do this seven days a week and I just love it. August is a big month for me. Aug. 3 I will have been selling the paper nine years. Aug. 4 me and Tommy will be married 12 years and Aug. 29 I will be 41.

The new normal?

DON N., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

Let us hope not. Surely COVID-19 will go dormant in the near future, but we must all do our part and wear the mask. I know they’re bothersome and those with respiratory diseases find it very hard to breathe with them, but they are the best defense and of course six feet social distancing.

I myself have been sick for six months now with severe breathing problems and fatigue. I tested negative for COVID-19, but positive for exacerbated COPD. I’ve suffered from severe depression for a decade or more. I am trying very hard to snap out of it. This COVID thing certainly has not helped. Speaking of COVID-19, there are many, many cons to the virus and a very few pros. We all know the cons but let me share some pros with you, hopefully you will agree.

It has made us much closer as a family unit. It has brought out the good in a lot of people. It makes us realize how fragile life can be. There are very, very few more.

I got so sick in the last two months I was beginning to wonder if I had caught it. I kept checking on my temp., I was coughing. I could not walk barely 30 feet without having to stop and regain my breath, yet

I kept going to the corner to try and make a lil money. I’ve had a nice apartment At Vine Hill Towers going on four years. I got it with the help of Sally B., who used to work at Room In The Inn, and selling papers for The Contributor. I’ve been selling them since 2011. I can’t handle anything else ‘cause of my COPD. I have to pay my rent (wild horses couldn’t pull me away). Of course food and normal day to day items were and still are needed. I did finally get food stamps two months ago, for the first time in my life.

Well July 22, I went to the corner, barely making it. Next thing I know, I am in the hospital. Doctor said I passed out in the first lane of 13th Avenue. I do not remember any of it. He also said I was still COVID negative. But I had a bad case of pneumonia. I said OK, thanks Sir, but I will take the prescriptions and go to the clinic and get my regular refills, some antibiotics and a Prednisone shot and tablets. Four days later I feel much, much better.

So folks, in a nutshell, let us be thankful for what we have. Hope and pray for what we do not.

GOD SPEED!!